Today, there is an increasing interest in adding flame resistant characteristics to mattresses and other furniture.
Materials that can resist flame and fire have been known for many years. Asbestos, Kevlar, halogen treated fabrics, thermoplastics and other materials have long been used to reduce and prevent combustion. Although these materials work well, not all are suited for every use and need. Flame resistance has been added to clothing, work gloves and other items for may years with reasonable success. One such example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,411, issued to Cox et al. Cox et al. describe a flame resistant material that is a laminate having a first layer of a spun lace fabric having a fire retardant additive and a second layer of a polymeric film. The material works well to resist flame and has been used for workgloves, and protective coverings for machinery. However, work gloves and protective coverings are in essence specialty products where the ability to resist flames is the primary function.
One difficulty of adding flame resistance to a mattress is that mattresses by their nature require soft padded surfaces. The padding acts as a source of fuel which can ignite if sufficient heat passes through a fire barrier, even if flames are kept from contacting the padding. Therefore, a high degree of flame resistance is required and must be provided without making the mattress to stiff or causing it to release obnoxious odors.
Several solutions have been proposed. Among them is U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,991 to Klancnik that describes a fire resistant mattress having a flame retardant two layer composite material. This composite material will form a char upon sufficient exposure to a flame. The composite material is a neoprene foam bonded to a fiberglass fabric. U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,548 to Murphy et al. also discloses a fire barrier fabric for use with a mattress. The fire barrier is used with an insulating layer to enclose, at least partially, the core of an open flame resistant mattress. The mattress core is surrounded, at least, partially, by the fire barrier to prevent the core from combusting.
Although the fabrics described in these publications work well, they are generally quite expensive and add, sometimes significantly, to the cost of a mattress. Thus, there exists a need for effective fire barrier materials that will not add a significant cost burden to a consumer.